WASHINGTON – President Obama needs to let people in Central America know it’s not acceptable to send their children to enter the United States illegally, members of a congressional committee said on Tuesday.

And it would help if he would encourage Mexico to close its southern border, too, they said during a hearing regarding the flood of illegal alien children arriving daily in Texas and Arizona from points mostly in Central America.

The Committee on Homeland Security, chaired by Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, questioned Department of Homeland Security chief Jeh Johnson about why not more has been done already.

“I think that this humanitarian crisis can be laid directly at the feet of President Obama as a result of his DACA policy in 2012. And so I hope that our hearing today doesn’t just point out the problem, which is very, very bad, getting worse, no end in sight, but I hope that we can coalesce around some actual options and solutions,” Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., said.

She and other House Republicans are pushing for Obama to call up the National Guard to help overwhelmed U.S. Border Patrol officers deal with the crisis, to which Johnson said he’d already added 115 officers.

DHS officials said they are seeking more places to house the children, who are only supposed to be held for 72 hours by Customs before being turned over to Health and Human Services to be flown throughout the country and placed in foster homes, sometimes with parents who are illegal immigrants themselves.

Though Republicans said the children should be sent back to their home countries, Johnson and other House Democrats said doing so would be inhumane and most likely the children will remain in the U.S.

But Republicans suggested the government knew about and possibly helped facilitate the crisis, taking the arguments to an entirely new level.

Republicans learned the flood of unaccompanied children, some as young as 5, from Central American nations of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, has more than doubled recently from 24,000 to 52,000.

And more are expected.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials estimate that more than 150,000 unaccompanied children will enter the U.S. illegally in the next year and Johnson said border officials are apprehending about 300 children daily at the Rio Grande border.

The children make the 1,000-mile trek through Mexico in groups atop trains they call the Beast. Some fall off and are injured.

Johnson suggested parents are handing over their young children by the thousands to cartels who are making about $8,000 per child to smuggle them into the U.S. Members of Congress said they are being drawn by Obama’s policies of deferred action against young illegal aliens.

“As a father of five, it’s unimaginable to me what would compel a parent to risk the lives of their children on such a dangerous passage, not to mention the risk of sexual assaults, exploitations and the potential to be trafficked,” McCaul said.

“In the hands of smugglers, many children are traumatized, psychologically abused by their journey or worse, beaten, starved, sexually assaulted or sold into the sex trade. They are exposed to psychological abuse at the hands of the criminals,” he said.

Johnson released a letter on Monday to those parents in Central America saying there are no free passes into the U.S., and that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program does not apply to children who arrive now or in the future to the U.S. To be considered for DACA, individuals must have continually resided in the U.S. for the past seven years.

But House Republicans said that Obama’s DACA program is the reason for the crisis.

In fact, they asked Johnson about a government advertisement in January requesting contractors to provide escorts for 65,000 unaccompanied immigrant children. Johnson responded that he not know why the government posted the ad.

“If you knew that up to 65,000 unaccompanied children were going to be coming to this country, for Pete’s sake, you should have been doing something about it. And I don’t see where this administration or the Department of Homeland Security has done anything. Am I wrong?” Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga., demanded of Johnson.

That announcement said the minors will arrive “with a phased approach over a period of several months to a full year,” and that 25 percent will be “local ground transport, 25 percent will arrive via ICE charter and 50 percent via commercial air.”

Republicans said instead of providing millions of dollars more in aid to Central American countries for climate change and social issues, the Obama administration needs to cut the funding and secure America’s borders with fences.

McCaul said committee members are “gravely concerned about the safety of children no matter where they come from.”

“This is a crisis,” he said, “that’s been in the making for years. We should have seen it coming. Few concrete actions have been taken.”

He said the Obama administration first needs to acknowledge its part in making the problem, through its policies.

“What is new is a series of executive actions by the administration to grant immigration benefits to children outside the purview of the law,” he said. “Such a narrative shapes behavior and encourages people to come to our country illegally.”

He continued, “This administration should send an unambiguous message that those arriving will promptly be sent home.”

WASHINGTON – The CEO of a major a federal contractor, which has several contracts with the Treasury Department, says it should be relatively easy for IRS contractors to retrieve the “lost” emails of Lois Lerner, the IRS official at the center of the tea party-targeting scandal.

Ron Gula is CEO and chief technical officer of Tenable Network Security, an information technology services company nestled in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., that has major contracts with many federal agencies, including the Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service and United States Mint.

“It is very unlikely that the emails in question are not stored on a backup machine someplace else,” Gula told WND.

Gula also said questions about the lost emails from Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa, R-Calif., for Monday evening’s hearing are spot on.

Over the weekend, Issa called IRS Commissioner John Koskinen to testify Monday evening about the IRS’ “email systems, data retention policies, and document production processes.”

“Because the IRS has refused to provide basic information about these matters to the committee in advance of the hearing, and in the interest of promoting a frank and thorough discussion at the hearing, I ask that you provide answers to the factual questions posed below,” Issa said in a letter to Koskinen.

In his letter, Issa asked Koskinen to provide further details about the “failure of the hard drive,” identify employees involved in examining the hard drive, explain steps taken by the IRS to recover the information and give dates of those attempts. He also asked for the identities of all IRS employees who had any role or responsibility in maintaining or servicing IRS email servers since 2009 and for other details on the IRS archival systems.

After reviewing the letter, Gula said, “Many of the questions outlined for [Monday’s] session are on the right track.” He said the emails in question could also be stored on any number of laptops and systems such as spam filters, which process email throughout the IRS.

Gula noted that because IRS contractors have the same access as employees to email systems, there shouldn’t be any issue retrieving lost data.

“In my experience, contractors who were authorized to do work for organizations like the IRS have full access to email and corporate resources,” he said.

To make email work for an organization the size of the IRS, Gula said, “there must be a great deal of redundancy and separate systems to deliver email reliably.”

WASHINGTON – A senior U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs official told a bipartisan congressional panel Friday that the VA’s senior executives often conduct their own performance reviews with little or no oversight – a circumstance that likely resulted in a bonus payout totaling $2.8 million in 2012.

The VA’s Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration, Gina Farrisee, told Congress that from FY 2010 to FY 2013, not one of the 470 members of the Senior Executive Service, or SES, whose pay typically ranges between $121,749 and $181,500, received a less than fully satisfactory or successful rating.

As WND reported in late May, The VA’s highly controversial bonus system came under fire by agency critics who say the incentive money motivates some employees, especially managers, to misrepresent achievements in order to meet performance goals.

However, in early June two VA senior executives were among 100 nominated from various government agencies to receive the 2013 Presidential Distinguished and Meritorious Rank awards, which makes them eligible for a bonus equal to 20 percent of their salary if one of them were to win the award.

During Friday’s hearing, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., cited several glaring examples of alleged misconduct on the part of VA senior executives. Miller and other committee members said the VA on Friday finally relinquished long-awaited information regarding the removal of six SES employees.

Gross negligence for financial gain?

As WND has reported, last February, Sharon Helman, the former director of the VA medical center in Phoenix received an $8,500 end-of-year performance bonus. After relentless probing by the Veterans Affairs committee members, the VA said she received the award as a result of a “clerical error.”

The Phoenix location was cited by the first whistleblower as a location where veterans were put on secret wait lists for appointments that were so long multiple eligible care recipients died waiting for appointments.

Miller said in his testimony that the error regarding Helman’s bonus is unlikely because “past documentation from VA has stated that all performance reviews and awards are ultimately reviewed and signed by the secretary.”

The former director of the VA regional office in Waco also received a total of $53,000 in bonuses. Miller said that under the director’s management, the Waco office’s average disability claims processing time “multiplied to inexcusable levels.”

The bureaucratic shuffle continues in Washington as lawmakers scramble to find a viable solution to long wait times and lost paperwork.

Acting U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Sloan Gibson told members of the media Wednesday that even though he still is not 100 percent confident that all wait times listed on VA computers are accurate, “I have vastly greater confidence” in the list than he did in the past, when manipulation of patient times was widespread across the VA system.

House and Senate Veterans Affairs delegation, led by Miller and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., approved separate resolutions last Wednesday that appointed 28 lawmakers – 14 from each chamber – to serve on a conference committee and work on a compromise so veterans have better access to medical care.

Lucrative contract awards while vets linger

At the same time, the agency allocated millions for computer equipment and management training while veterans fell further into a bureaucratic death list oblivion.

In 2011, 14 defense contractors won a $12 billion VA information technology contract with the goal of reducing the backlog of benefit claims, improving the continuity of care for veterans, ensuring physicians have the most accurate medical history of a patient, and significantly improving patient safety.

And WND uncovered a Defense Department news document that showcases Obama’s plan for a “total transformation” of VA healthcare through his Integrated Electronic Health Record, or IEHR, which “will create a single, jointly created common health record for all DoD and VA medical facilities that, when completed, will be the nation’s single largest health record system.”

There was no mention of the cost to taxpayers for such an endeavor.

“I’m asking the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to work together to define and build a seamless system of integration with a simple goal. When a member of the armed forces separates from the military, he or she will no longer have to walk paperwork from a DoD duty station to a local VA health center; their electronic records will transition along with them and remain with them forever,” he said in 2009.

DoD and VA officials in the document lauded the results of their program, saying that because of their efforts, the DoD and the VA “share digital treatment information on 1.1 million service members and veterans,” including:

23 million more laboratory results, for a total of 92.8 million results shared

3.6 million more radiology reports, for a total of 15 million shared, and

24 million more pharmacy records, for a total of 95.7 million shared.

Information sharing of this magnitude was intended to slash wait times in half and give veterans direct access to their records so they can bring them to a facility of their choice. But that is not what happened. Instead, the Obama administration courted the biggest players in the defense contracting industry, offering them a chance at record-sized contracts, and subsequently profits.

Farrisee, who assumed her position of chief human resources czar last September, told the congressional panel Friday that she believes “there is room for change in the VA,” but part of that change “will come with more training of our senior executives and understanding our critical elements that are put in the performance plans in establishing very real goals and the metrics we have talked about.”

Farrisee, a veteran herself, said that performance reviews were conducted entirely on paper until recently and that a senior executive’s performance is measured against the strategic and organizational goals of the VA, though she did not say what those goals are.

Miller fired back and said that he is sure it is not to allow veterans to die while awaiting care and other panel members questioned Farrisee’s sincerity.

But she did not give the committee any specifics about senior executive training except to say that they will be able to see their performance metrics in advance and they will, “do a lot more training with our senior executives on what the critical elements mean.”

Right after Obama began his first term, then-Deputy Secretary Scott Gould testified before the House Veterans Affairs Oversight and Investigations Committee on his strategy to implement a Performance Management Accountability System, or PMAS, “to enhance the competencies of the VA’s Senior Executive Service.”

The result was a multi-million dollar contract awarded in 2010 to a Northern Virginia firm that specializes in teaching program management to mid- to senior-level government employees and executives.

During congressional testimony Farrisee struggled to explain the methodology VA uses for determining the dollar amount of bonuses except to say that it was based on “a percentage…and performance metrics.”

WASHINGTON – Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Thursday rallied those attending the “March for Marriage” in Washington with an emphatic call for leaders who “will not bow to Nebuchadnezzar,” a reference to the Old Testament story of faithfulness to God.

In that story, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego defied orders from the king, Nebuchadnezzar, that they fall down and worship his image, even under the threat of execution by being thrown in a fiery furnace.

The king himself was in awe when he saw them alive, unhurt and not even smelling of smoke after being thrown into a furnace, heated seven times hotter than normal, because they obeyed their God.

Huckabee’s targets Thursday were the judges who, across America in recent months, have been overturning the will of the people and declaring that state’s must approve of same-sex “marriage.”

That’s just wrong, according to the Constitution, he said.

Only the legislatures can change laws, and only executives, governors or presidents can enforce those changed laws.

All judges can do is express their opinion about the constitutionality of laws, he pointed out.

Those “black robes,” he said, need to submit to the “ultimate authority, the people, bound together by the document of the Constitution.”

“When you hear the trend [of same-sex ‘marriage’] is moving, keep in mind, it is not a trend of the people, it is a trend of the courts,” he said. “There is nothing in the Constitution that gives the judicial branch the right to consider themselves above the people, above the Constitution.”

He took aim directly at the U.S. Supreme Court, which has avoided most cases involving same-sex “marriage” by deciding on technicalities, but by that very maneuver has left standing lower court orders for states to create same-sex “marriage.”

“We need to remind [them] they are only the Supreme Court, not the supreme branch of government. They are most certainly not the Supreme Being from which all law ultimately emanates.”

Then he called for those who would refuse Nebuchadnezzar’s orders, officials in high places who would see an unjust law, and refuse to obey.

“It is time for us to say there is no responsibility for the executive and legislative branches to capitulate their powers, that they are equal to a judicial branch that has decided it has taken upon itself the rights and responsibilities of all three branches.”

That, he said, is no more, no less, than a “judicial coup d’etat.”

“It’s time we start saying, ‘Courts, you cannot prescribe such an order.'”

“This country would not exist if it had not been for the providential hand of God,” he warned. “If we reject His hand of blessing, we will feel His hand of judgment.”

Estimates were that there were in excess of 2,000 people at the rally, the second annual March for Marriage, in front of the U.S. Capitol.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum, who in 2012 ran an unsuccessful bid for the White House based largely on traditional family values, called on Republicans to stand by the party platform and lay out a vision that is both “inclusive” and uplifting for America.

Judges have ruled in just the past few weeks in Kentucky, Ohio, Idaho, Utah, Oregon, Arkansas and in other jurisdictions that state’s must recognize same-sex “marriages.” Such rulings reached an extreme when U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, a homosexual in a long-term relationship with another man, threw out the decision by California voters to define marriage as between a man and a woman, and put himself in the potential position of benefiting personally from his own court ruling.

Obama’s recent boasts about “gay” promotions were noted by officials with the American Family Association, whose millions of constituents largely have been appalled by the president’s advocacy for a lifestyle choice the Bible has defined as sin.

A note from AFA President Tim Wildmon warned, “My friend, our nation is in deep trouble under President Obama and liberals in Congress … are you registered to vote in upcoming elections?”

He noted just some of Obama’s boasts at this week’s “gay” fundraiser in New York.

Obama said, “The day that the Supreme Court issued its ruling, United States v. Windsor, was a great day for America.”

Other statements:

So Pride Month is a time for celebration, and this year we’ve got a lot to celebrate. If you think about everything that’s happened in the last 12 months, it is remarkable. In nine more states you’re now free to marry the person you love – that includes my two home states of Hawaii and Illinois. The NFL drafted its first openly gay player. The U.S. Postal Service made history by putting an openly gay person on a stamp – the late, great Harvey Milk smiling from ear to ear.

When I took office, only two states had marriage equality. Today, 19 states and the District of Columbia do.

But because of your help, we’ve been able to do more to protect the rights of lesbian and gay, and bisexual and transgender Americans than any administration in history.

We repealed “don’t ask, don’t tell,” because no one should have to hide who you love to serve the country we love.

I lifted the 22-year ban on people with HIV traveling to the U.S.

Before I took office, only one openly gay judge had been confirmed in history. We have 10 more.

[W]e stopped defending the so-called Defense of Marriage Act in the courts and argued alongside Edie and Robbie before the highest court in the land.

I’ve directed my staff to prepare for my signature, an executive order prohibiting discrimination by federal contractors on the basis of sexual orientation and gender.

“Despite recent shocking news reports – like the CDC’s revelation that one in five homosexual males in the U.S. is infected with HIV/AIDS and new studies proving children raised by same-sex parents are far more likely to commit homosexual acts than other kids – the radical ‘gay rights’ agenda, including same-sex marriage and open homosexuality throughout the armed forces, is about to be forced down Americans’ throats,” the magazine warned.

In a short time, it was. Despite the fact that in 41 states voters added language to their own state constitutions defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Notoriously, in California, a homosexual judge ruled that if he married a man, the state would be required to recognize the marriage.

Writer Andrew Sullivan said, “He had to discover his black identity and then reconcile it with his white family, just as gays discover their homosexual identity and then have to reconcile it with their heterosexual family.”

It’s not the only title of questionable benefit that has been applied to Obama. Dobson, in fact, created headlines across the country when, at the National Day of Prayer, he called Barack Obama the “abortion president.”

Shortly later, in a message to constituents, he doubled down.

The founder of Family Talk Radio and a courtroom opponent of Obamacare said Obama is “the anti-religious freedom president.”

He began by citing atheist activist Mikey Weinstein’s condemnations of Christianity and his court challenges. But Dobson says Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, isn’t the biggest danger to religious believers in America.

“Weinstein, for all his bluster, is not the primary threat to the free expression of religion. Despite the pandering he receives from the mainstream media, the greater danger is posed by our federal government,” Dobson warns.

The federal government, he says, “seeks to limit or weaken religious liberty and to ‘fundamentally transform’ this great nation.”

“That was an oft-quoted campaign slogan by candidate Barack Obama during his presidential bid in 2008. We now know what he meant by it,” Dobson writes.

“Among other things, he was targeting religious freedom and set about accomplishing that from the beginning. That was the activity to which I objected strenuously during my comments in Washington. I offer no apologies for expressing those views now. The effort to force Christians to violate their consciences must be opposed with all vigor, regardless of the consequences – primarily because it is unconstitutional. Christians are being chastised, dismissed, harangued and sued for daring to practice their deeply held convictions in the public square. Family Talk is among those who have been pressed against a wall,” he writes.

“[Obama] has made it so that every American will have to pay toward the support of abortion,” he said, citing hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds that already go to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion industry player.

He implored attendees to “keep fighting.”

“We can win. And keep praying because that’s what really made a difference here.”

Secretary of State John Kerry with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas

WASHINGTON – As the Obama administration moves to work with and fund the new Palestinian unity government formed with the Fatah and Hamas factions, two members of Congress are pointing to an admission that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is lying to “trick the Americans.”

Not that they were surprised.

“The only thing new about Abbas’ lying when he speaks to the media or to American leaders about Israel is that (a) spokesman has actually admitted that he bragged about lying,” said Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, in an interview with WND.

“One has to be either completely oblivious to Fatah’s actions or in the Obama administration to trust Abbas at all when it comes to his position on Israel,” the congressman said.

Palestinian Media Watch translated a Facebook posting by former Hamas government spokesman Ihab al-Ghussein saying that in private meetings with Hamas, Abbas admitted he was lying in his public statements.

“When I go out (publicly) and say that the (PA) government is my government, and it recognizes ‘Israel’ and so on, fine – these words are meant to trick the Americans,” Abbas was quoted as saying.

Hamas remains designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist group.

Ghussein, who was a Hamas government spokesman until the advent of the new unity government with Fatah, put up a post about Abbas’ “duplicity,” PMW said.

PMW reported the posting said: “You know what Mahmoud Abbas says behind closed doors?? He says: ‘Guys, let me [continue] saying what I say to the media. Those words are meant for the Americans and the occupation (i.e., Israel), not for you (Hamas).'”

Abbas, according to Ghussein, said what’s important “is what we agree … among ourselves.”

“In other words, when I go out (publicly) and say that the government is my government and it recognizes ‘Israel’ and so on, fine – these words are meant to trick the Americans,” Abbas said, according to Ghussein. “But we agree that the government has nothing to do with politics (i.e., foreign relations). The same thing happened in 2006. Don’t harp on everything I tell the media, forget about the statements in the media.”

Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, echoed Gohmert.

“This appears to be a ploy by Hamas operatives to sucker the media,” he said.

“Obama is under fire for his illegal agreement to unlawfully bankroll their Hamas-partnered government and al-Ghussein is trying to put out the fire,” Stockman said. “If he means what he says, Hamas should recognize Israel’s right to exist, give up their arms and disband.”

Middle East experts also weren’t surprised by the admission by Abbas.

“The Palestinians have a long history of deception,” Sarah Stern, founder of the Endowment for Mideast Truth, told WND.

Stern said that in 1996, she obtained an audio tape of a closed-door meeting in which the Palestinian National Council discussed a tactic of deceiving the international community to make it appear they had voted to amend the Palestinian National Covenant.

Stern noted the covenant has 33 clauses, 30 of which are devoted to the annihilation of “the Zionist entity,” or Israel.

“They never amended the covenant. Instead they voted to appoint a committee to look into writing a new covenant. The committee has never convened, and members of the committee have never been named. Sadly, it appears that deception is very much a part of the modus operandi of the Palestinian people,” she said.

The Obama administration said just days ago that it would work with the new Palestinian “unity” government, claiming that it did not include Hamas leaders. That’s even though three Hamas-backed individuals were sworn in as officials with the unity government.

In addition, Israel National News reported Hamas maintains that it will control the unity government, and it remains committed to its aim of destroying Israel.

The peace talks the Obama administration has been trying to promote have run into snags over Hamas.

Some U.S. lawmakers have called for a suspension of the approximately $500 million in annual aid to the Palestinian Authority while assessing the new unity government.

WASHINGTON – Even as the military and public outrage over President Obama’s decision to trade five top-level terror leaders held at the Guantanamo Bay prison for a soldier accused of desertion reverberated, a hearing was held by the U.S. Defense Department’s Periodic Review Board to consider release of another prisoner at the U.S. facility in Cuba.

“Even considering releasing yet another detainee would seem to show that the White House has learned nothing from the experience,” Clare Lopez, a top strategic policy and intelligence expert at the Center for Security Policy, told WND.

Lopez has spent much of her life on the front lines of the intelligence community fighting the likes of Taliban jihadi commander Fouzi Khalid Abdullah al-Awda.

“There is no excuse for even considering the release of jihadi fighters at this time, whose promises about leading peaceful civilian lives must be weighed against the Islamic commandment to lie to the infidel – as well as what is known of the significant recidivism rate for Gitmo detainees released earlier,” Lopez said Wednesday.

Awda has been held for 12 years at Gitmo, but he appeared via a video feed before a review board Wednesday in a northern Virginia office.

He insisted he went to Afghanistan to help with humanitarian efforts and “teach the Quran.”

The question was whether he should continue to be held at the U.S. prison for terror suspects or be handed over to Kuwait.

His attorney admitted there still would need to be security arrangements for Awda and that the U.S. government would need to have input.

But he said a year in a Kuwaiti prison, followed by periodically checking in with police, would allow him to reunite with his family.

Security analysts say he’s Awda is a threat because of his alleged involvement in training terrorists just before the 9/11 attack.

According to Defense Department officials and his official Guantanamo detainee profile, Awda traveled from his home in Kuwait to Afghanistan to train in terrorist camps and “possibly” fight alongside the Taliban and al-Qaida.

A government report on Awda notes he has refused to answer questions since 2007. It says that although officials are not confident he was close to Osama bin Laden, “were he to attempt to reengage in extremism, his most likely path would be through family members who are in contact with extremists in Kuwait, including his cousin, Adel Zamel Abd Al Mahsen Al Zamel … a former Guantanamo detainee who has attempted to communicate with [al-Awda] since his repatriation to Kuwait.”

Top intelligence officials say releasing the likes of Awda is yet another example of how the Obama administration disregards the safety of the citizens Obama took an oath to serve and protect.

WND reported recently that terror networks have advanced throughout the Mideast and Africa and grown exponentially in the last year alone.

“The whole point of Gitmo is to take jihadis off the battlefield and keep them off until the jihad wars are done,” Lopez told WND.

“Obviously, as the global jihad demonstrates – from Boko Haram in Nigeria to Ansar al-Shariah in Libya, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis in the Sinai, Al-Shabaab in Somalia, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, to the Taliban, Haqqani network, HAMAS, Hezbollah, and Iran – the jihad wars are anything but over,” she said.

Lopez said the U.S. “remains at war with the forces of Islamic jihad that seek to destroy us.”

“Until we have defeated that enemy, release of jihadi prisoners is not only foolish, it is unnecessary under international rules of warfare,” she said.

Lawmakers say the five Guantanamo prisoners released over the weekend are high risk and were among the most sought-after detainees by Taliban leadership. There are now 149 detainees left at the U.S. prison in Cuba, which President Obama promised to close when he took office in 2009.

During his decade-plus in captivity, Awda has not been a passive prisoner. His personal representatives concede he’s been hostile, throwing “food and other items” and participating in hunger strikes. But they also say he has become much calmer in recent years, adding the initial adjustment to prison life “has not been easy.”

WASHINGTON – Somewhere around the world, another Christian is martyred, on average, every three hours, according to a new report that concludes nations where radical Muslims are abundant are the worst places for Christians to live.

The new World Watch Top 10 Violence List published by Open Doors International said the majority of the cases in which Christians are killed because of their faith are in Nigeria, Syria and the Central African Republic.

“The alarming increase of violence against Christians in Nigeria over the past months highlights the lack of religious freedom they have and the daily dangers they face from the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram and other violent Islamic organizations,” said David Curry, president of Open Doors USA.

Curry added: “Going to school, attending church or identifying yourself as a Christian is a very brave decision in Nigeria. It is turning into a bloodbath. Christians in the West must stand in the gap with our prayers and support.”

The World Watch Top 10 Violence List is a continuation of the Open Doors 2014 World Watch List, covering the violence portion of the World Watch List questionnaire. The report looks at the nations where there is the most violence, up to and including murder, against Christians.

It is based on attacks between Nov. 1, 2012, and March 31, 2014, and lists Nigeria, Syria, Egypt, Central African Republic, Mexico, Pakistan, Colombia, India, Kenya and Iraq, in that order.

Observers might be surprised to find North Korea, the 2014 World Watch List’s No. 1 worst persecutor of Christians, absent from the Top 10 Violence List.

“When it comes to counting the numbers of Christians martyred, it is impossible to get an accurate number for North Korea,” said Jan Vermeer, Open Doors field worker for North Korea. “This is not because there are no Christians being killed for their faith. It is a fact that thousands of Christians are starved, abused and tortured in North Korea’s extensive prison system. But due to an inability to derive sufficiently accurate figures about the reasons for killing Christians in this most secretive society, North Korea is excluded from the total number of killings.”

In countries where Christians are persecuted, researchers recorded 3,641 churches and Christian properties destroyed and 13,120 other forms of violence against Christians such as beatings, abductions, rapes, arrests and forced marriages.

Of the 5,479 Christians killed for their faith around the world, 85 percent were in Nigeria, Syria and Central African Republic. The estimated average of Christians killed for their faith per month in the reporting period is 322. That’s a murder about every three hours.

Researchers say the total number of martyrs is “a very minimum count and could be significantly higher.”

Sources for the World Watch Top 10 Violence List include external media and Internet searches, as well as Open Doors Field Operations, which directly works among and with persecuted Christians.

“The list shows that violence against Christians for faith-related reasons is spread all over the globe – from India, to African and Middle Eastern countries, and to Latin America,” said Frans Veerman, director of World Watch Research. “Islamic extremism, tribal antagonism and organized corruption are the main persecution engines fueling violence, with Islamic extremism being the major engine in seven of the top 10 countries.”

Veerman added: “Egypt is very high because of increased harassment and attacks by mobs and Islamist groups. Also, Latin America is well established in the Top 10. Mexico ranks No. 5, but is not ranked on the WWL, and Colombia No. 7. Latin America has always known high levels of corruption and state and insurgent violence. Christians are perpetually caught in the crossfire between tribes, guerrillas who are drug runners, landlords who are violent and soldiers running their own rackets.”

The World Watch Top 10 Violence List also includes the World Watch List reporting period of November 2012 to October 2013, but has been extended to include updated information. The top 10 countries on the WWL, in addition to top-ranked North Korea, are Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Maldives, Pakistan, Iran and Yemen. The WWL was released on Jan. 8.

Despite spending $2 trillion to finance wars and fight terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan, at a cost of 6,700 American soldier’s lives, Iraq and Afghanistan are among top five worst for persecuted Christians, according to Open Doors USA.

This list comes on the heels of President Obama’s surprise visit to Afghanistan where he announced an unprecedented drawdown of troops to 9,800 and an end to the U.S. combat mission at the close of this year. At the same time, Iraq’s Shiite-led government is struggling to contain the worst surge in sectarian violence since the country was pushed to the brink of civil war in 2006 and 2007.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has warned that Christians could disappear altogether from Iraq, Afghanistan and Egypt as a result of troop withdrawal.

“The flight of Christians out of the region is unprecedented and it’s increasing year by year,” said Leonard Leo, chairman of the USCIRF.

Reports from the Islamic world seem to support the conclusion that Iraq was the earliest indicator of the fate awaiting Christians when dictators are removed.

In 2003, Iraq’s Christian population was at least 1 million. Today fewer than 400,000 remain after an anti-Christian campaign that began with the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Christian churches were bombed and Christians were killed, including by crucifixion and beheading.

Here are snapshots of five countries:

Iraq

According to the WWL list, 2013 saw a significant increase in attacks and threats against Christians. Islamic terrorist groups, influenced by the conflict in Syria, are increasing in number and severity. Exacerbating the situation is the Iraqi government’s authoritarian reign under Islamic law. According to a local source, every two to three days a Christian is killed, kidnapped or abused. As a minority, Christians are an easy target for kidnappers. Even in the relatively unrestricted, semi-autonomous Kurdish region, the security situation for Christians is deteriorating.

Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, conversion from Islam to Christianity is considered a serious crime, punishable by death, according to Islamic law. Abdul Latif, a Christian father, was brutally beheaded in June 2011 by four Islamic militants in the town of Enjeel for the “crime” of converting to Christianity.

As radical Islamic domination increases, Christians, both foreign and indigenous, are being systematically purged from the country. A statement posted by the Taliban in October 2011 said: “According to our reports … Christian evangelists and social organizations are directly inviting Afghans to Christianity. … These infidels, enemies of Islam under the name of corrupt democracy and their lords, need to know that the Afghan Islamic Emirate is seriously taking your activities into consideration. … The Afghan Islamic Emirate will take practical measures and has already made special plans to destroy all [their] centers one by one; the centers where plans are made that destroy the holy religion of Islam and Afghan culture.”

As a result of intensifying persecution, hundreds of Christians have fled Afghanistan and sought asylum in countries such as India, Norway and Britain. A 2010 International Religious Freedom report, published by the U.S. State Department, indicates that no public Christian churches or schools exist at all in Afghanistan, with the last church having been destroyed in March 2010.

Syria

Many Syrian Christians have fled to neighboring Turkey while thousands have paid the price for staying in Syria with their lives. The Christian community, about 10 percent of the population, is wary of the rising power of jihadist groups within the rebel movement, and much like in Nigeria, Iraq and Afghanistan, only a small percentage of Christians have taken up arms.

As WND reported, al-Qaida and other jihadi groups are growing because they are decentralized and difficult to track. The result is an unprecedented religious cleansing.
Their rise portends an even greater generational threat that is more brutal and ruthless than what al-Qaida has posed in the past. The problem emerging is that Western powers are tired, lack resources and apparently the commitment to conduct more intense operations.

“This extremism transcends borders and language barriers; and affects people across all sectors of society, regardless of religion, class or gender,” according to Middle East expert Mohammed Fahad al-Harthi, who writes on terrorism trends for various Middle East publications.

WASHINGTON – The Taliban was celebrating this week the release of five Guantanamo Bay inmates who previously worked at the command level in the Islamist terror group, and Barack Obama was celebrating the return to America of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.

But for Warren Weinstein, 72, it wasn’t quite such a good time.

He remained in a Pakistani lockup because, according to a 2013 statement from the U.S. State Department, “The U.S. government doesn’t make concessions to people who kidnap U.S. citizens.”

The issue arose this week after Obama’s announcement that Bergdahl was released in exchange for the top Taliban chiefs who had been held in Gitmo, and who had been determined several times to be too dangerous to be released.

Obama explained that this is what happens as wars end, that soldiers are repatriated. But his direct intervention in the Bergdahl case, which has been put under investigation by the military because of the odd circumstances of his departure from his military unit in 2009, seems at odds with a hands-off approach taken in several other scenarios where Americans are locked up in other countries.

Among them a Marine who made a wrong turn into Mexico, a Christian pastor jailed in Iran over his faith, a woman facing execution in Sudan for a religious conviction – even though her children likely are American citizens – and others.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., specifically asked about Weinstein and two other Americans reportedly still in the custody of militants aligned with the Taliban.

“Should this still be the case, I would like to know why these individuals were not included in the negotiations that resulted in the release of five detainees from Guantanamo Bay,” he said.

The issue of a government negotiating with those who are holding in custody a soldier, a pastor or a mother is delicate, according to Jennifer Dekel, the director of research and communications for the Endowment for Mideast Truth.

The organization, which provides research and analysis that challenges misrepresentations about issues in the Middle East, and “never bows to political correctness,” supplies details and analysis to members of Congress.

“Our hearts go out to Mr. Weinstein and his family during this painful time. He doesn’t deserve this illegal imprisonment,” Dekel said. “He should be freed immediately by al-Qaida.”

Dekel explained the intricacies of such events, however.

“In general, EMET is always concerned about trading hostages with terrorists. It may encourage the terrorists, and others, to grab more Americans later on. As history shows, the act of negotiating with terrorists and terror supporting regimes, such as Iran, typically threatens a nation’s national security and makes it appear weaker to its enemies.

“Another example, when Israel signed the Oslo Accords with the PLO terror group, Palestinian terrorism increased, and each time Israel made additional concessions for ‘peace,’ including releasing Palestinian terrorists, it was, in turn, met with more violence, and more demands.”

Weinstein is a former State University of New York professor who was taken by al-Qaida Aug. 13, 2011.

The idea of negotiating for his release has been brought up, but has been shot down by Washington.

State Department officials said, “That’s not something we do. We’re not in the business of doing that. We’ve called on those who are holding him to release him immediately.

“We’ll keep working with folks to try and achieve that goal,” State Department officials said only months ago.

In a statement released Saturday, Weinstein’s wife, daughters, son-in-law and grandchildren say they join the nation in celebrating the release of Bergdahl.

But they say they “implore our government to redouble its effort to explore all possible avenues” to free Weinstein.

They note his health is failing and they say they are “desperate for his release before it’s too late.”

The State Department most recently told WND that officials “remain concerned for the safety and well-being of Mr. Weinstein and continue to actively work with Pakistani authorities to try to secure his release.”

“We remain in contact with Warren Weinstein’s family in the United States and are providing all appropriate consular assistance,” officials said in a statement to WND. “The United States condemns kidnappings of any kind, and we call for the immediate release of the victim and the prosecution of those responsible.”

His mother, Jill Tahmooressi, said he spent two tours of duty in Afghanistan, suffering several injuries. She’s been upset not only with the Mexican government’s handling of the situation, but her own government.

“I want more than three words uttered about my son. All this administration has said is that they will ‘raise the issue’ with regard to my son’s imprisonment for a mistake,” she said.

WND reported he had been imprisoned since the end of 2012. He had been transferred to a private hospital in March due to chronic stomach pain caused by repeated beatings, but his family said he recently was beaten by guards and returned to prison.

“He is a U.S. citizen, and it is also clear that he is being punished because of his Christian faith. This disturbing development along with the new beatings raise serious new concerns about his health – especially now since he’s been returned to a prison cell,” said Jordan Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice.

Saeed Abedini and family

“We remain concerned about Mr. Abedini’s health and welfare, especially given reports of mistreatment during his transfer back to Rajai Shahr prison,” a federal official said.

WND reported the U.S. has thus far abandoned her to her fate, even though her husband, Daniel Wani, is an American, and presumably her two children are American through their father.

Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, right, and her husband, Daniel Wani

More than a year ago, Islamists attacked a natural gas complex in Algeria, and while seven Americans made it out safely, three did not.

The State Department noted the militants carrying out the attack had offered to release Victor Lynn Lovelady and Gordon Lee Rowan in exchange for the freedom of two prominent terror suspects jailed in the U.S.: Omar Abdel Rahman, a blind sheikh convicted of trying to blow up pieces of New York, and Aafia Siddiqui, who was convicted of shooting at U.S. soldiers.

The Obama administration rejected the offer and the two Americans eventually ended up dead, along with Frederick Buttaccio, whose death was reported earlier during the takeover.

Hunter told Breitbart News he was concerned about Weinstein and two other Americans who have gone missing in that part of the world: Caitlin Coleman and the child she was pregnant with when she and her Canadian husband disappeared in Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON – A man who served as U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s squad leader before he went missing in southeastern Afghanistan five years ago tells WND the soldier “was a little unstable” and “abandoned his post, [leaving] four guys sleeping with no one covering them” because he was “fed up with the establishment, with poor leadership.”

Greg Leatherman was in charge of the five-man operation Bergdahl allegedly abandoned June 30, 2009. The Taliban held Bergdahl, 28, in captivity for five years until the Obama administration agreed to release five high-level terrorists May 31 from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for Bergdahl’s freedom.

The White House has hailed the return of Bergdahl from Taliban custody, and National Security Adviser Susan Rice claimed Sunday that Bergdahl served with “distinction.”

But Leatherman said, “Something isn’t right because he’s being labeled as a hero.”

“I would never abandon my battle buddies while they slept,” Leatherman said, adding that Bergdahl left the men “open to ambush.”

“I would know that I’d be captured immediately. A short, American guy trudging through Afghanistan in ACUs [Army Combat Uniform]. I’d do what I did. I’d take a knee, face out, pull security and suck it the hell up.”

“I don’t like that we have openly negotiated with terrorists,” he said. “I believe other terrorist organizations will see this as an opportunity to target more Americans.”

Another soldier who claims to have been part of a 35-man mission to retrieve Bergdahl wrote in a blog posting: “Here is what I know, not from hearsay, but because I was there. Bergdahl became a sympathizer, walked off his post to seek out the Taliban in order to join their ranks, to help and live with them.”

Sgt. Josh Korder, yet another soldier who served with Bergdahl in Afghanistan, told CNN’s Jake Tapper: “He is at best a deserter, and at worst a traitor. Any of us would have died for him while he was with us, and then for him to just leave us like that, it was a very big betrayal.”

Now, according to CNN’s Barbara Starr, a defense official says Bergdahl will be promoted to staff sergeant because he hasn’t been classified a deserter. He has already received two promotions since being taken prisoner.

The following are photos of six U.S. soldiers reportedly killed while searching for Bergdahl:

According to Fox News, a senior Department of Defense official confirmed that “many within the intelligence community harbor serious outstanding concerns not only that Bergdahl may have been a deserter but that he may have been an active collaborator with the enemy.”

While Leatherman said he doesn’t know whether Bergdahl converted to Islam while in captivity, he concluded, “It would be difficult not to after five years.”

As for the soldier’s mental state before he left, the squad leader said, “I don’t think he had PTSD [Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder], but I think he was a little unstable.”

In 2012, then-Spc. Jason Fry told Rolling Stone, “He spent more time with the Afghans than he did with his platoon.”

Fry said he heard “all kinds of crazy stories about him.”

“My buddy was on an op, pulling guard duty,” said Fry, remembering a prank Bergdahl pulled. “Bergdahl was sneaking up on him like he was practicing techniques for the Battle of Wanat, on the other side.”

Rolling Stone reported: “The U.S. base at Wanat, a remote village in Afghanistan, had been overrun by the Taliban four months earlier, leaving nine Americans dead and 27 wounded. It was one of the most deadly battles since the start of the war.”

Bergdahl returned to Hailey, Idaho, one last time before his disappearance. When he was there, he gave his father, Robert Bergdahl, his last will and testament.

“He wanted to be buried at sea,” his father recalled. “Typical. It’s just this figment of his imagination. That’s how he was seeing himself. This kid, from when he was 18, was hanging out with the elite. That’s where his habits came from. He was living in a novel.”

Before Bergdahl deployed to Afghanistan, he reportedly told Fry: “If this deployment is lame, I’m just going to walk off into the mountains of Pakistan.”

Bergdahl prepared for his mission by learning to speak Pashto and reading Russian military manuals.

After a popular soldier, 1st Lt. Brian Bradshaw, was killed by a roadside bomb and several soldiers in Bergdahl’s unit had been reprimanded for various mistakes and forced to change units, Bergdahl wrote his father an email complaining of the conditions and calling his battalion commander a “conceited old fool.”

“In the US army you are cut down for being honest … but if you are a conceited brown nosing sh-t bag you will be allowed to do whatever you want, and you will be handed your higher rank,” he wrote. “The system is wrong. I am ashamed to be an American. And the title of US soldier is just the lie of fools.”

He said soldiers he admired were making plans to leave.

“The US army is the biggest joke the world has to laugh at,” Bergdahl wrote. “It is the army of liars, backstabbers, fools, and bullies. The few good (sergeants) are getting out as soon as they can, and they are telling us privates to do the same.”

Bergdahl also criticized the broader mission in Afghanistan.

“I am sorry for everything here,” he wrote. “These people need help, yet what they get is the most conceited country in the world telling them that they are nothing and that they are stupid, that they have no idea how to live.”

He ended his email with: “I am sorry for everything. The horror that is america is disgusting.”

Leatherman told WND Bergdahl “never spoke out against the mission to us, just that he thought it might be different.”

He added, “I think he romanticized the war and was surprised by the reality of it.”

Five Taliban terrorists President Obama released from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl

WASHINGTON – House Republicans today grilled Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson for answers about why President Obama signed off last year on “the worst prison break in U.S. history,” which released 36,000 criminal immigrants into U.S. neighborhoods, including many violent offenders
.
Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, asked Johnson today in a House Judiciary hearing if “someone” – namely Obama – should be charged with crimes against humanity for intentionally releasing violent offenders to roam free and unfettered.

“By the administration’s own admission, 90 percent of those who were voluntarily released had committed thousands of crimes, such as murder, sexual assault, kidnapping, drug trafficking and hit-and-run. Should someone be charged with crimes against humanity?” Smith asked Johnson.

Smith then gave a rundown of the “ways the president has ignored or undermined current immigration laws.”

The Secure Fence Act of 2006, the congressman noted, requires the Department of Homeland Security to prevent all unlawful entries into the U.S., yet the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, reported in 2011 that only 6.5 percent of the Southwest border is under full control.”

Also, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, weakened the rules that required illegal immigrants to be detained. The administration, he said, has undercut the ability of local law enforcement officials to apprehend illegal immigrants.

Currently, DHS is reviewing deportation policies, and no doubt will weaken them even more, Smith said.

“If the president cannot be trusted to enforce current immigration laws, how can he be trusted to enforce future immigration laws?” Smith asked.

Smith probed Johnson further for details of offenders who have committed murder after being released as a result of Obama’s executive orders.

“Mr. Secretary, a couple of questions. First of all, in regard to the homicides that have been committed by those who are voluntarily released, will you be able to provide this committee with the details of those homicides – who was involved, the nature of the crime, the date and so forth?”

Johnson said that he didn’t have the information in hand but would share it once he gets it.

Smith pressed Johnson further on the nature of prosecutorial discretions in an effort to get the DHS chief to admit the Obama administration is indeed granting amnesty to thousands of violent offenders.

“Do you agree that the administration’s policies have resulted in amnesty to hundreds of thousands people, and do you agree that the Senate bill would have provided amnesty to millions of people under the definitions [from Black’s Law] that I just read you?” Smith asked.

Johnson dodged the question: “Through prosecutorial discretion, we prioritize our use of resources.”

Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., attempted to drill down deeper into the issue of illegal immigration and amnesty but still could not get clear answers from Johnson.

“We’ve had testimony before this committee that violent criminal gangs are a major problem in the United States. And some of those gangs, such as MS-13, one of the most violent, we’ve had testimony – that as many as two-thirds of their members were here illegally,” Forbes said.

“Last year, when ICE began releasing convicted criminals, I asked then-Director Morton how many of those released were members of violent criminal gangs. And I think the committee was shocked that he didn’t have a clue. Based on your letter that you submitted, I think, yesterday to the committee, we now know that 36,000 – in excess of 36,000 criminals have been released,” he said.

“And the question I would have for you today is, of the 36,000 released, do you have any clue how many were members of violent criminal gangs?” Forbes asked.

“I would suggest you have no record of that. And if you do, if you would correct me on that. The second – third question – is, isn’t it true that individuals can receive asylum or withholding of removal if they simply claim that they’ve renounced their membership in a gang?” Forbes asked.

Johnson responded: “I’m not sure about the specific answer to that question.”

House Republicans also probed Johnson for answers as to why DHS has purchased 84 million rounds of ammunition totaling $19 million and what it will be used for. As with the other questions the committee asked, Johnson said he need time to find the answer.